A material called graphene has recently been discovered which has the ideal properties believed to make it an excellent component of integrated circuits. Graphene is a one-atom-thick planar sheet of sp2-bonded carbon atoms that are densely packed in a honeycomb crystal lattice. The carbon-carbon bond length in graphene is approximately 1.42 Å. Graphene is the basic structural element of all other graphite materials including graphite, carbon nanotubes and fullerenes.
Graphene has a high carrier mobility as well as low noise thereby allowing it to be utilized as a component in an electronic device. Thin dielectrics, such as gate dielectrics, with a thickness ranging from about one monolayer to about 15 nanometers, are required to form new semiconductor devices using graphene monolayers. Such thin dielectric layers are required to be formed in order to continue the progress towards developing smaller and more efficient semiconductor devices. Researchers are experiencing difficultly in depositing dielectrics, such as a gate dielectric, specifically using atomic layer epitaxy on graphene because of the low sticking coefficient of dielectrics and the hydrophobocity of the grapheme surface. As a result of the low sticking coefficient of dielectrics, thin dielectrics, such as high-k dielectrics, can only be deposited uniformly on graphene when the thickness of the films exceeds several hundred Angstroms. However, such thicknesses are unacceptable in continuing the trend towards developing smaller and more efficient semiconductor devices.
Alternatively, researchers have attempted to functionalize the surface of graphene by treating it with reactive oxygen in order to facilitate the deposition of the thin dielectric on graphene. That is, researchers have attempted to create more nucleation sites on the surface of graphene by treating it with reactive oxygen in order to facilitate the deposition of the thin dielectric on graphene. However, treating the surface of graphene with reactive oxygen can cause severe point defects within the grapheme layer which will eventually give rise to band structure modification and thus carrier scattering. That is, the properties of graphene can be modified such that graphene is no longer a perfect planar sheet of sp2-bonded of carbon which gave rise to the properties believed to make graphene an excellent component of integrated circuits.
As a result, there is a need in the art for establishing a uniformly thin dielectric layer, ranging from a monolayer to about 15 nanometers, on graphene without affecting the ideal properties of graphene.